Tag: lawyer

Earlier today, the Justice Department said that Cohen is "under criminal investigation." The revelation came amid a courtroom drama that unfolded today, as Cohen's attorneys and Trump's attorneys began a fight hours before with the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan over a massive raid of Cohen's records. Cohen did not appear in court Friday morning and has not been charged with a crime President Trump just tweeted about the Justice Department inspector general's report on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. The instances the inspector general cited McCabe's conversations with federal investigators and also with FBI Director James Comey in October 2016. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders continued her full-throated attack on James Comey Friday as excerpts of his upcoming book come to light. In the wake of news that Michael Cohen is under criminal investigation, Sarah Sanders was asked if President Trump still has confidence in the man who long served as his personal attorney and reported fixer. But when asked if he was still the President's personal attorney, Sanders said, "I'm not sure. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked today if President Trump is considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders came out swinging when a reporter asked if President Trump was worried about what James Comey was saying in his interviews with the media. She added that the fired former FBI director was "padding his pockets with a book that should be in the basement bargain bin," and said, "He'll be known as a disgraced partisan hack that broke his sacred trust with the President of the United States, the dedicated agents of the FBI and the American people he vowed to faithfully serve."

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer arranged for a $1.6m payment to a Playboy playmate in 2017 to keep secret her sexual relationship with a top Republican fundraiser and ally of Trump, a person familiar with the matter said. Trump's attorney asks judge to let president vet seized Cohen documents Read more Michael Cohen, whose home and office were raided this week by FBI agents searching in part for information about payoffs to women alleging sexual encounters with Trump, handled the matter on behalf of the fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, the person said. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was confirming a Wall Street Journal report. The official requested anonymity to discuss a private phone call between McDaniel and Broidy. In a statement, Broidy acknowledged that he had a relationship with a Playboy model and offered to help her financially after she told him she was pregnant. The woman’s name has not been made public and the source declined to disclose it. Broidy said Cohen contacted him after being contacted by the woman’s attorney, Keith Davidson. Broidy said he retained Cohen because Cohen had a prior relationship with Davidson. Cohen and Davidson did not immediate respond to requests for comment. The first court hearing resulting from the Cohen raids was held in New York on Friday.

Today in 5 Lines The FBI raided the office of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and seized records related to several topics, including payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Federal investigators also reportedly searched his home and hotel room. Trump condemned the suspected chemical attack in Syria as a “barbaric act” and said he will make a decision on the U.S. response within the next 24 to 48 hours. Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that he will run for U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while in office. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met privately with several lawmakers on Capitol Hill ahead of his planned testimony before a joint session of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on Tuesday, followed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Today on The Atlantic ‘They’re Desperate to Keep This Email Hush-Hush’: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt denied knowing about salary increases given to two of his top aides. But an email exchange suggests otherwise. (Elaina Plott) A Bit of Self-Criticism: Conor Friedersdorf argues that The Atlantic’s firing of conservative writer Kevin Williamson represents a failure of tolerance. (Franklin Foer) Snapshot What We’re Reading Expect an Expensive Race: Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that he’s launching a bid to unseat Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.

raided the Rockefeller Center office and Park Avenue hotel room of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Monday morning, seizing business records, emails and documents related to several topics, including a payment to a pornographic film actress. The prosecutors obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel in the Russia investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but most likely resulted from information that he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York. “Many people have said you should fire him.” The president once again railed against Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, for recusing himself in the Russia inquiry, and blasted the F.B.I. “Today, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients,” Mr. Ryan said. It is not clear what Mr. Mueller saw that made him refer the matter to other prosecutors. The search is an aggressive move for the Justice Department, which normally relies on grand jury subpoenas to obtain records from people who are represented by lawyers and are cooperating with authorities. Justice Department rules require prosecutors to first consider less intrusive alternatives before seeking records from lawyers. Mr. Ryan said Mr. Cohen has cooperated with the authorities and turned over thousands of documents to congressional investigators looking into Russian election meddling. “I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” But the emails obtained by The New York Times show no response from Mr. Cohen, who told congressional investigators that he regarded Mr. Sater’s talk as puffery. It is not clear how significantly prosecutors view the payment to Ms. Clifford.

WASHINGTON — John Dowd resigned on Thursday as President Trump’s lead lawyer for the special counsel investigation as Mr. Trump signaled that he was prepared to ignore his advice and wanted a sit-down with investigators. After days of uncertainty among the president’s lawyers about their status, Mr. Dowd ultimately broke with Mr. Trump over whether he should agree to be questioned in the inquiry, a person briefed on the matter said. Mr. Dowd viewed an interview as too risky; the president reiterated shortly after Mr. Dowd resigned that he wanted to clear his name. “I would like to,” the president told reporters at the White House when asked about meeting with investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. He has appeared in only three federal criminal cases in the past two decades, according to the national database of federal court records, and has not filed an appearance in a federal criminal case in eight years. Mr. Trump tried last summer to hire some of Washington’s top lawyers to represent him. He hired Mr. Dowd, Mr. Sekulow and Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer for the investigation, who all advised the president to be more cooperative with the special counsel, convincing him that it would hasten the end of the investigation. Mr. Trump had lost confidence in his lead lawyer in recent weeks and had spoken to the outside lawyers without directly consulting Mr. Dowd about hiring them, the person said. “I will make the decision on whether the president talks to the special counsel,” Mr. Dowd told reporters at the time. official, Mr. Dowd called on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation.

Lawfare's Ben Wittes joins Chuck to talk about Trump's next steps if he were to meet with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful political…

John Dowd, Donald Trump’s lead lawyer in the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference and alleged links between Trump aides and Moscow, resigned his role on Thursday while protesting his “love” for the president. Trump attacks Joe Biden amid reports of 2020 presidential run Read more In an email to the Guardian, Dowd confirmed his departure and said: “I love the president and wish him well.” The 77-year-old left Trump’s legal team days after the hiring of Joseph DiGenova, a cable news commentator and former US attorney who has claimed the Mueller investigation is an attempt to frame the president, carried out by the FBI and Department of Justice. The shake-up comes with special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly closing in on an interview with Trump and less than two weeks after the president insisted on Twitter he was “VERY happy” with his legal team and said his lawyers were “doing a great job”. Dowd attracted unwanted attention on Saturday, in the aftermath of the firing on Friday of the former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe. He then told Axios that Trump “didn’t have any problem” with his statement. Trump has been more aggressive in attacking the Mueller investigation, recently mentioning the special counsel by name for the first time. In December, he insisted “the president cannot obstruct justice” after Trump tweeted that he “had to fire [former national security adviser Michael] Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI”. The tweet raised questions about whether Trump had attempted to obstruct justice when he asked the then FBI director James Comey to halt an investigation into Flynn the day after he was fired. The former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has pleaded not guilty to charges including money laundering and tax and bank fraud. As a result of Dowd’s controversial report, Rose was banned from baseball and made ineligible for induction in the Hall of Fame.

New details tonight that Donald Trump's lawyer used a Trump company email to communicate and plan payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Our panel discusses the legal questions and what it means for the president. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc…

Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels from his Trump company email account, NBC reports. Ken Dilanian and the MTP Daily panel discuss. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines,…

Adult film star Stormy Daniels reportedly believes recent comments by President Trump's lawyer open the way for her to discuss publicly her alleged affair with Trump. A manager for Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Daniels believes Michael Cohen, the president's personal lawyer, violated a 2016 nondisclosure agreement by telling The New York Times that he personally paid her to stay quiet about the 2006 affair. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Cohen arranged a $130,000 payment to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence on the alleged affair. Soon after the Wall Street Journal story, InTouch magazine ran a previously unpublished 2011 interview with Daniels in which she detailed her Trump interactions, which allegedly occurred shortly after the birth of Donald and Melania Trump's son, Barron. Cohen said Tuesday that he paid the $130,000 out of his own pocket. His comments were an effort to quell accusations that the Trump campaign had paid Daniels. A nonprofit watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission earlier this year claiming the payment violated campaign finance law. “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said in a statement to the Times. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.” Though she reportedly spoke openly about the alleged affair in past years and in her interview with InTouch, Daniels has sidestepped questions about it in recent weeks.